No. 10 NC State women’s tennis claimed its second straight ranked win in as many days, toppling Tennessee 6-1 in Raleigh on Sunday, Feb. 5.
Just one day after taking down No. 15 Oklahoma by the same score thanks to a stellar singles display, the Wolfpack (4-1) claimed an equally dominant win against No. 22 Tennessee (4-2), taking the doubles point and five of six singles matches in the victory.
“In both matches we had the same result, but they were very different matches,” said head coach Simon Earnshaw. “And just because you do well one day doesn’t mean you’re entitled to do well the next day.”
The red-and-white bounced right back to its winning ways in doubles play after conceding the early point to Oklahoma the day prior. Even though the lethal combination of star freshman Diana Shnaider and graduate student Alana Smith lost their bout on court one, NC State’s other two pairs got the job done.
Juniors Amelia Rajecki and Gina Dittman claimed court three 6-4, and with both teams splitting the doubles courts one a piece, it came down to the No. 60 pair of juniors Sophie Abrams and Abigail Rencheli to clinch the early point. And they did just that, downing their opponents 6-3 to claim the 1-0 edge.
From there, NC State picked up where it left off in terms of its singles play from its match against Oklahoma. While the Pack didn’t sweep the Vols like it did the Sooners, it got close, taking five of six singles courts to continue its dominance.
No. 23 Rajecki wasted no time in pushing the Pack’s advantage, pummeling her opponent 6-2, 6-0 on court three. The next to earn a point was No. 13 Smith, who captured her third straight two-set singles win on court two thanks to some solid serving.
“My match today was just a serving battle,” Smith said. “I felt like she had a pretty big serve. My serve was on today; I held my serve the whole time, so if I can do that every match that would be fun.”
Smith has been cruising as of late, and after being sidelined all of last season with an injury, it’s safe to say she’s hit her stride in 2023.
“This is probably the first time in my career that I’ve ever won straight-set matches back-to-back-to-back,” Smith said. I think in 2021, my last time playing in-season, every match was three sets, so it’s definitely different. But I would like to keep it up like that.”
While Rajecki and Smith cruised through their opponents, Schnaider gutted out her first three-set win with the Wolfpack on court one. After falling in the first set, she settled in, figured out her opponent and got to work, outscoring her opponent, No. 68 Elza Tomase, 12-3 in game score over the next two sets.
After Shnaider clinched it for the Pack, Abrams added the Pack’s fourth singles win of the day, one that was eerily similar to her win against the Sooners where she also won by a score of 6-0, 6-3. NC State’s final point came from Dittman on court six. The junior clutched out a close first set win in tiebreak before finding her groove in the second set, winning her match 7-6 (7-5), 6-2.
While the Wolfpack largely had its way with the Volunteers, Tennessee didn’t let the Pack pull off a full sweep. The Vols got the better of Rencheli, and while it wasn’t without a fight from the junior, the visitors claimed their only point of the day with the win on court four.
Between the Pack’s two matches on the weekend, the team won 11 of 12 singles matches, an especially impressive statline considering its ranked opposition. It doesn’t mean that Earnshaw and NC State are quite yet satisfied, though.
“I think overall, every player did a better job,” Earnshaw said. “And [success] in singles, it’s not like that’s unexpected — I think we have that. We’ve shown that many times, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. It was good. I mean, can we do better? 100%, absolutely.”
Next, the red-and-white is set to face California on Sunday, Feb. 12 in Miami, Florida. First serve against the Bears is set for 10 a.m.
